Mark Maclure "Soft Culture" Comments

[Half forward flank 1,022]

1 minute ago, Axis of Bob said:

He's just speaking in generalities that can't ever be proven or disproven. It's extremely lazy. His evidence of poor culture is senior players not being dropped (which I'm sure Tom McDonald disagrees with).

The only reason he is still kept around in the footy media is because he has name recognition and because his low analysis populism appeals to a certain subset of the population who relate to what he says. It's easy to come up with his comments, which I'll do for any team that lost this weekend:

• Bad culture
• They're soft and don't go hard enough at the contest
• Lazy and don't work hard enough
• Bad gameplan
• Players look lost
• Players don't want to win enough
• Coach is out of ideas and has no plan B
• Not fit enough
• Players unmotivated or 'not switched on'

It's completely unprovable, but just panders to many supporters' existing feelings. It's like reading your horoscope. If you put generalities out there without any evidence (or knowledge) then people will just insert their own preconceptions into it. 

If you want to see how this sort of thinking works, just check out this forum after a loss. 

forget the weekend

• Bad culture
• They're soft and don't go hard enough at the contest
• Lazy and don't work hard enough
• Bad gameplan
• Players look lost
• Players don't want to win enough
• Coach is out of ideas and has no plan B
• Not fit enough
• Players unmotivated or 'not switched on'

Every one of these apply to our past two seasons.

[rpfc 28,913]

This is like being stranded in the desert and someone handing you The Desert News with a headline of ‘Water is wet, and it’s pretty dry around here’

 

what are we doing

srsly

[sisso 2,588]

Knives are already out after a practice match loss imagine what will happen if we lose in round 1 to a young interstate team with several key outs!

[buck_nekkid 6,068]

1 minute ago, Half forward flank said:

hugs at this time of the year are like giving every kid who participated a medal. promote the wrong culture at this time of year. 

Kid is just back from his mum’s funeral.  Think it showed care and consideration.  He did not play in the game at Drivel stadium.

[Half forward flank 1,022]

Just now, buck_nekkid said:

Kid is just back from his mum’s funeral.  Think it showed care and consideration.  He did not play in the game at Drivel stadium.

take it back, I was not aware he just got back.  That said that is just being human. No accolades needed.

[Megatron 886]

Did I fall asleep and wake up a week later? Did we lose to Freo on the weekend? 

[deelusions from afar 1,870]

3 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

forget the weekend

• Bad culture
• They're soft and don't go hard enough at the contest
• Lazy and don't work hard enough
• Bad gameplan
• Players look lost
• Players don't want to win enough
• Coach is out of ideas and has no plan B
• Not fit enough
• Players unmotivated or 'not switched on'

Every one of these apply to our past two seasons.

Maybe - but I think you'll find that these criticisms would have been leveled at every team over the last few years.  Richmond copped plenty last year and went on to win the flag.  

[rufus 1,162]

18 minutes ago, sue said:

I am always impressed by those who think they can distinguish (from the outside) some cultural problem from a simple lack of skills which are obvious to all who watch the game.  No amount of  culture will turn a team of unskilled players into a champion team. 

My belief is that our skills look poor because of our lack of defensive intensity. When we have applied high levels of pressure to our opponents, we create turnovers in situations where we can break away and have more time and space, hence it's easier to hit targets.

Our defensive intensity back, forward and in the middle is very poor.

[Reader 99]

7 minutes ago, Axis of Bob said:

He's just speaking in generalities that can't ever be proven or disproven. It's extremely lazy. His evidence of poor culture is senior players not being dropped (which I'm sure Tom McDonald disagrees with).

The only reason he is still kept around in the footy media is because he has name recognition and because his low analysis populism appeals to a certain subset of the population who relate to what he says. It's easy to come up with his comments, which I'll do for any team that lost this weekend:

• Bad culture
• They're soft and don't go hard enough at the contest
• Lazy and don't work hard enough
• Bad gameplan
• Players look lost
• Players don't want to win enough
• Coach is out of ideas and has no plan B
• Not fit enough
• Players unmotivated or 'not switched on'

It's completely unprovable, but just panders to many supporters' existing feelings. It's like reading your horoscope. If you put generalities out there without any evidence (or knowledge) then people will just insert their own preconceptions into it. 

If you want to see how this sort of thinking works, just check out this forum after a loss. 

Great post, couldn't have put it better. I have confidence in the club and the players continuing to improve.

[Axis of Bob 11,906]

5 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

forget the weekend

• Bad culture
• They're soft and don't go hard enough at the contest
• Lazy and don't work hard enough
• Bad gameplan
• Players look lost
• Players don't want to win enough
• Coach is out of ideas and has no plan B
• Not fit enough
• Players unmotivated or 'not switched on'

Every one of these apply to our past two seasons.

As I said, it's low-analysis populism. It resonates with those who don't like to think too hard, like Maclure.

[DistrACTION Jackson 10,231]

I think commentators saying a club's culture is soft is just lazy journalism.

Max Gawn is a 4 time all-australian and the best ruckman in the competition, does Mclure honestly think he isn't giving it 100% every time he runs out and also trying to help his teammates?

What is frustrating is the following:

Our list management - Why didn't we go after Phillips after missing out on Smith? Why didn't we go after Butler when it was so obvious we had no quality small forwards? Why have we not put foot skills as a high priority until now? 

Player development - Why did we move Fritsch from a forward line role to a backline a couple of years ago? Why did we move Harmes from a tagging role to half back? 

This has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with questionable list management and coaching decisions. 

 

[Little Goffy 14,754]

19 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

hugs at this time of the year are like giving every kid who participated a medal. promote the wrong culture at this time of year. 

His mother died.

[Reader 99]

20 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

hugs at this time of the year are like giving every kid who participated a medal. promote the wrong culture at this time of year. 

Are you serious? Must be joking.

[old dee 24,003]

22 minutes ago, Axis of Bob said:

As I said, it's low-analysis populism. It resonates with those who don't like to think too hard, like Maclure.

AB you may be right and if so that means for most of the last 56 years we have had poor players / average coaches. I actually think we have had the trifector. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by old dee

[dl4e 5,851]

28 minutes ago, sisso said:

Knives are already out after a practice match loss imagine what will happen if we lose in round 1 to a young interstate team with several key outs!

Suicide watch. Seriously.

[Axis of Bob 11,906]

4 minutes ago, old dee said:

AB you may be right and if so that means for most of the last 56 years we have had poor players / average coaches. I actually we have had the trifector. 

We have been bad for different reasons at different times. Combining them is lazy. 

Maclure is beyond lazy, intellectually. He's just there to make the viewer feel better about their own knowledge, although not necessarily for the same reasons.

[Its Time for Another 4,303]

There's always talk about "culture" but hardly ever any attempt to define it. Some years ago Jude Bolton was generous enough to come down and speak to a Junior team I was coaching. We asked him to explain the famous Swans "Bloods Culture". He said when Roosy arrived he said to Stewy Maxfield the culture needs to be owned by the players. Maxfield created the Bloods Culture which in summary is:-

Don't ever let your mates down. Every time you walk through the door of the Club you give 100% to every training session and every game. Anything less is failing the culture. You could see from then on you knew you were going to get 100% effort every time.

Can you say you have the confidence to expect that every time MFC plays. The fact messages are coming out of the Club saying midfield egos have to be parked, says a lot about what the Club thinks about the culture. Maxy has been communicating a clear line about the players taking responsibility. Lets hope the players hold each other accountable to bring 100% every time. I'll believe it when I see Clary and Gus finally becoming defensive. I'll believe it when I see Langdon looking up and delivering passes to leading forwards instead of just bombing away like he did again v Dogs. I'll believe it when I see players gut running off the ball on defensive transition. 

Are we supporters the problem?  Do we not demand enough accountability from the footy dept and players. Are we different in that compared to the Cats, Hawks, Swans, TIgers?  I don't know but I wonder. 

Go Dees.

[DubDee 26,306]

No doubt we have a mentally soft culture. when the chips are down or we are on the verge of something good, we generally fail.

I want to see an angry team this year. I don't want people to 'like' Gawn, Viney, May, Lever, Clarry - I want them to respect and even fear them a bit. if I mess up, I'll get a bollocking. Every team does not need this for success but we certainly do. The A listers need to demand more, then the guys who coast like the 'Hunts' will naturally train harder, play harder, concentrate for longer. You need to be obsessed with success for it to come.

I cannot disagree with Mark's comments. 

[daisycutter 29,892]

36 minutes ago, Action Jackson said:

I think commentators saying a club's culture is soft is just lazy journalism.

Max Gawn is a 4 time all-australian and the best ruckman in the competition, does Mclure honestly think he isn't giving it 100% every time he runs out and also trying to help his teammates?

What is frustrating is the following:

Our list management - Why didn't we go after Phillips after missing out on Smith? Why didn't we go after Butler when it was so obvious we had no quality small forwards? Why have we not put foot skills as a high priority until now? 

Player development - Why did we move Fritsch from a forward line role to a backline a couple of years ago? Why did we move Harmes from a tagging role to half back? 

This has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with questionable list management and coaching decisions. 

 

is suspect the reason we didn't go after phillips and butler was simply money

our inability to trade tmac and release the necessary money didn't come off

consequently we had a pretty average to poor draft and trade outcome imo

[Demon Dude 425]

i see Cam Smith just announced his retirement. he comes from a different code but has been a big part of the strong winning culture at the Storm. i wonder if we could find a part time role for someone like him to come in and work with the players mindset and help build our culture into a winning one.

[The heart beats true 18,183]

Calm down. We lost a practice match against a team that has us beaten for contested footy for the last 3-4 years - and we were missing 3 of our best 4 contested players.

The week before we beat the premiers in a practice match. Where were these comments then?

 

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,297]

11 minutes ago, Demon Dude said:

i see Cam Smith just announced his retirement. he comes from a different code but has been a big part of the strong winning culture at the Storm. i wonder if we could find a part time role for someone like him to come in and work with the players mindset and help build our culture into a winning one.

Would be the best signing we’ve ever made on or off field.

He is besties with Clarko but is more likely to move to Gold Coast where his family have relocated to. 
 

Doesnt rule out a part time gig!

[joeboy 3,174]

At the end of the day we need our best players on the field for at least 75% of the season because our depth is obviously limited .

i can’t understand why we’re so maligned this week because an incredibly undermanned team beat the Premiership favourire 2 weeks ago and competed effectively for half a game against one of the Premiership favourites with an almost complete team last weekend.

Our weakness is our team depth, no more, no less. It is crap to blame ooor football skills on culture, or even the coach. 

[Kent 2,918]

2 minutes ago, joeboy said:

At the end of the day we need our best players on the field for at least 75% of the season because our depth is obviously limited .

i can’t understand why we’re so maligned this week because an incredibly undermanned team beat the Premiership favourire 2 weeks ago and competed effectively for half a game against one of the Premiership favourites with an almost complete team last weekend.

Our weakness is our team depth, no more, no less. It is crap to blame ooor football skills on culture, or even the coach. 

So Poor game plan  poorly executed

poor player selection over many years

lazy footballers 

None of this exists

[binman 44,533]

25 minutes ago, It's Time said:

There's always talk about "culture" but hardly ever any attempt to define it. Some years ago Jude Bolton was generous enough to come down and speak to a Junior team I was coaching. We asked him to explain the famous Swans "Bloods Culture". He said when Roosy arrived he said to Stewy Maxfield the culture needs to be owned by the players. Maxfield created the Bloods Culture which in summary is:-

Don't ever let your mates down. Every time you walk through the door of the Club you give 100% to every training session and every game. Anything less is failing the culture. You could see from then on you knew you were going to get 100% effort every time.

 

Lewis said much the same thing about the super successful hawks team he played in.

The players set and maintained the standards. Let their teammates know when those standards were not met and payers answered to each other when not met.

And also said the culture was different at the dees when he got there....